Stocked and ready to go!

I am pumped for the increased access to good food for our neighbors on the East Side of Saint Paul.

Merrick Community Services has opened a SECOND East Side food shelf location in order to bring more food to more people! That goal of more evenly distributed, healthy food options is what drives Samantha Soriano, Merrick Food Shelf Manager.

Samantha invites you to the Dedication and Open House of their new location this Saturday, September 23! The Theme is “Putting Down Roots” and you know I love that There will be food from local East Side food trucks and restaurants, games, inflatables, activities, tours of the new food shelf, all coinciding with the Block Party hosted by the church they are housed within, Gustavus Adolphus Lutheran Church.

This is going to be a great time, and an eye opening way to understand the impact Merrick continues to have on their neighbors.

The parent organization has been around for a while, 1908 to be exact. Currently, Merrick Community Services encompasses five main branches of service: The Food Shelf, Family Services, Youth Services, Senior Services, and Employment Services. There is a lot going on in, and so much good being done by their 19 employees. Offering different facets of service under one organization better serves the individual; it allows for a synergy and truly lifts people higher, faster, steadier.

New cooler and freezer storage, with glass fronts make a big difference!

The Food shelf serves about 150 families each week during normal distribution hours, leading to about 600 each month. Once you add in the special produce distributions, it’s around 750. They typically give out anywhere from 3,250 to 4,000 pounds of food each day at our regular distributions.

Merrick Food Shelves are on track to give out about 600,000 pounds of food in 2017!

The Senior Services houses the Meals on Wheels Program, serving around 80 people every week. (Think how much e each meal means to each person every time they receive one!) The Employment Services division is getting an upgraded computer lab to help with both searching for jobs, and computer training. Until now they worked out of two different buildings; the food shelf and senior services out of Woodland Hills Church. The family, youth and employment services divisions worked out of another East Side location.

Some of the Woodland Hills Church volunteers.

Like so many of the best things in life, I found the Merrick Food shelf when I got curious. I wondered where that bag of food I brought in for our church food drives ended up. I didn’t even know exactly where in our church the food shelf was located (granted, our church is a converted home improvement store and rather sprawling, but still). I took the first step, and called the number. Samantha, the manager answered. I asked. I signed up for one time to volunteer. Almost a year later, it’s part of my (as much as I have one) routine- and the cliché is true; what I get out of volunteering FAR outweighs anything I give to it.

Samantha gets a lot out of her position as well, “I see the mix of managerial duties and building relationships with participants a blend of the best of both worlds.” She listens to stories (because she’s one of those people who listens well) about not being able to accept an entire month’s food all at once because of homelessness, or transportation limits and sees so many ways to improve services.

Samantha all smiles at the new intake station.

The current model of service (as in almost all food shelves) allows participants one visit per calendar month and doesn’t address the issue of homelessness. Samantha also hopes to expand services to mobile food distribution for those that are homebound; mainly the elderly and disabled in our communities.

Merrick partners with Second Harvest Heartland during the growing season to bring neighbors ‘fresh produce distributions’ a la “Pop up Farmers Market” style. This is a fabulous way to get more fresh produce into the hands of locals! You know I love this, and having been to the White Bear Lake version of these produce distributions, I can say the food is really fresh, really appreciated and really gone by the end of the time.

The last scheduled Fresh Produce Distribution is set for 10am on Oct. 14th at the Woodland Hills location. These are AWESOME & open to all!
Bonus: These produce distributions do NOT count towards a participant’s monthly visit.

Jesse and Quentin happy with the new layout and location!

Volunteer coordinator, Quentin West works with roughly 50 volunteers any given month- not counting the big groups that come through. “No matter what your skills or abilities, we have a place for you here”, he states with confidence and a smile that welcomes. There are so many aspects to keeping the food shelf up and running; from behind the scenes cleaning and stocking, food pick up and delivery, data entry to direct customer service and making sure the food distribution times run smoothly. You try and keep 50 different people happy and coming back each month These food shelves are run on volunteer power, and Quentin seems to know how to fuel up the volunteers!

I’ll go ahead and restate this truth here, “You get more out of volunteering than you put into it!”

I get to help during food distributions and love the variety of people I meet (other volunteers included) and conversations I have each time I’m there. I want to give a shout out to all the Boy/Girl scout troops and other groups that are looking for service hours; even if this isn’t your neighborhood, give either of the Merrick food shelves a thought for your volunteer hours; it’s amazing how much more of an impact your time can make in a community that might need a little bigger boost than your own.

Jesse tending some of the Woodland Hills raised bed gardens. Beautiful Basil!

Logistics coordinator, Jesse Edgington, came to Merrick from the grocery Co-op world. This puts him in a singular position to notice the juxtaposition of wealth and struggle in our food system. Most of the people shopping at the Co-op could afford to purchase the higher end foods without any sacrifice, while the farmers providing the local, organic, small batch foods were often closer to the struggle side of the economic scales. At the food shelf now, he sees these same foods a little closer to their expiration dates (along with lots of other food) having the ability to help others who are struggling. Jesse told me “regardless of where you are at in the food stream, there is so much waste. There is so much abundance built into the system, trying to be resourceful with the waste stream is my most interesting challenge.”

One of the urban farm plots the Jesse and Anna use to grow food.

One way he’s tackling the food stream head on is farming specifically for the Food Shelf participants. One of my first Forks in the Dirt articles was on Jesse and his partner, Anna in “Farming for a Food Shelf”. I can report their crops are always appreciated, and go fast on distribution day. Another innovative step forward for feeding our neighbors!

Pickup & Delivery Coordinator, Ken Hulbert, also does lots of figuring for the best use of vehicles and people power. I don’t get to see him during my volunteer time tho… guess there’s always more to learn!

Samantha’s all smiles at the new intake station!

In my elementary understanding of the food shelf system, it seems that too often your address dictates your access to food. Meaning Food shelves located in wealthier areas can support buying in more food, (because they having more donations coming in) and not taking some of the hand me downs. This is unjust. I’m so thankful there are people working hard to bring balance to the tipped scales.

I’m grateful I get be a small part of the process of getting food into the hands of those who need and deserve it. Maybe you want to grow that feeling in yourself too? I know a guy who’d love to hear from you, Send an email, see what sprouts

And don’t forget to check out the Open House this Saturday, Sept 23, 11-3!

Go ahead, Dig In!

Michelle

The post Serving with Pride on the East Side appeared first on Forks in the Dirt.

*Last Updated in 2018*

WBAEFS Staff at the 2016 Community Roots Garden Party

Andréa Kish-Bailey (just left of the bear) Executive Director of the White Bear Area Emergency Food Shelf (WBAEFS) in 2016, stated as a central goal of the organization to “Increase access to healthy food to our neighbors.”  And they’ve been doing just that since Andrea came on board.

Partnering with generous groups and companies like Bear Power, Costa’s Greenhouse and Farm , Heinel Farms, Tamarak Nature Center, and the Vadnais Heights Farmers Market has made a big difference in the kind of food available. Healthier food offerings coupled with the promotion of healthy eating practices are making a difference in our neighbors’ overall health.

Neighborhood Hub
Even before you walk in the doors of this food shelf, you’re greeted with one of the town’s signature white bear statues, so it feels more like a neighbor’s home than a Food Shelf. The genuine smiles from volunteers welcomed visitors at the front desk. When I visited, there were neighbors waiting to shop at their appointed time, all chatting it up together.

And volunteers they have, Lee Bailey-Seiler, volunteer coordinator at WBAEFS, mentioned many times how “we’re so fortunate to be in this community where people are so willing to help out. We’ve got great volunteers that, if we need help, we know we can count on them.”

One recent example of some serious volunteer work hours was during the Stamp Out Hunger food drive that the Postal Workers coordinate.

The food starting pouring in – EIGHT TONS of it in two days. (Umm, that’s 16,000 pounds!) Lee wasn’t sure of the total number of volunteers for that massive food drop- but over the course of last year they had over 221 volunteers that give 9,722 hours of their time to help neighbors. Way to go White Bear lake!

Growing Their Own
Another tangible way WBAEFS is working hard to get local, healthy foods to their neighbors is growing food in their own on-site garden. Love this! The garden began as a project of two long devoted volunteers that looked at the old rock pile behind the food shelf building and envisioned a vegetable garden. They cleared it out, put in drain tile (it sits close to the bog level out back) and added truck-loads of good soil. For the last few years this garden has been adding fresh produce to our neighbor’s kitchens. They take advantage of the summer growing season by adding healthy recipes for neighbors to use; if its tomato season they’ll have a salsa recipe on hand. Way to go Garden Volunteers!

Lee scoping out the early season garden (I promise there’s lots more green now)!

Cummins proudly sponsored the Community Roots Garden which has harvested over 400 pounds of fresh veggies for families utilizing the food shelf. The garden sponsorship includes a shed which will allow volunteers to tend to the garden on evenings and weekends when the food shelf is closed.

Community Roots Garden Party!
The garden is (obviously) the focal point of the upcoming 2^nd Annual Community Roots Garden Party they’re hosting on June 25^th from 2-5pm. A family friendly event celebrating the community the food shelf serves. Do some Yoga with Yoga devotions, the kids can high five “Sprout” the Bear Power mascot, jump in the bouncy house…and you guys, Uptown Girl Cupcakes will be there in their Cupake Chariot! University of Minnesota Extension Master Gardeners will also be on site to offer demonstrations on Salad container gardening, straw bale gardening, and composting techniques. Follow the Garden Party’s Facebook Event to stay up to date!

Bring in your Beans!
As more and more people are growing (at least a little) food of their own, food shelves are starting to receive produce donations from backyard gardeners! Did you know that you can bring your extra beans, potatoes and tomatoes to the food shelf!? Just check when they are open and drop them off.
*But, if they aren’t open for a few days, please remember you can freeze most vegetables to use later – just saying

Chris Harms of Giving Gardens

Volunteer crew with Anna & Jesse’s Urban Farming for Food Shelf initiative

Some people are taking this sharing of homegrown goodness idea to a (slightly – ha) larger scale – like Chris Harms of Growing Gardens. He has coordinated the acquisition and giving away of fifty 4’ X 8’ raised garden beds to locals with the goal of getting more people growing local food. The families that received the raised beds to grow food are asked to give a majority (51%) of the food they grow back to their local food shelf. Follow Giving Gardens on Facebook  and read my article Grass Rooting for Good Food on this White Bear Lake local food initiative.  Chris Harms jumped into this project after reading a book that’s now on my “to read” list called ‘Confronting Suburban Poverty in America’  , any of you guys read this?

And then there’s Anna and Jesse who love farming on urban plots of land and sending the produce along to the Merrick Food Shelf! I got to find out about them and shared it in my Farming for a Food Shelf post.

Lee mentioned that hunger in White Bear Lake looks different than what you might expect. The neighbors that use the Food Shelf may live in a nice home or drive up in a nice car, but because of circumstances like someone losing their job, getting injured, or sick (hello medical bills) they suddenly have to choose between paying the mortgage or buying food; making the car payment or buying food.

Which leads to another surprise of my interview with Lee, that
“often, we’re their first stop, the first time a person needs any kind of assistance. You can fake a lot of things, but you can’t ignore hunger.”

Because of this understanding that this may well be a new visitors first encounter with any kind of assistance, the initial check in is usually quick and gets them the food they need. If a neighbor comes back a second time, they may talk about other resources available. This is a beautiful secondary function of food shelves; last year WBAEFS referred 370 families to resources like energy assistance, WIC (Women, Infant, Child), Food assistance and medical assistance.

Another surprise was Lee sharing that “for us at WBAEFS, hunger is a short-term problem unless we’re talking about a senior or someone receiving disability. The average number of food shelf visits is 4.5-5. That number made me face some of my stereotypes about who uses food shelves (and I volunteer at one).

So how do they do what they do?

Lee stated multiple times how lucky the WBAEFS is to have such great community partners; like how they ‘rent’ the building from the City of White Bear Lake for $1 per year. Its the old city works building and thought this was a great use of their space.

Straight from Andrea, “The Cummins Foundation provided a grant supporting the work of Katie Roessler, a Six Sigma Black Belt, to update the food shelf warehouse to one that maximizes safety and efficiency.  The warehouse is now complete with a first in first out process, a roomy food sorting station for volunteers, rolling stairs, fans in the market area and more! Additionally, the grant provided new freezers and coolers to triple the food shelf’s capacity to accept and distribute food rescue product from local grocery stores.  This includes additional meat, dairy and produce items allowing healthier choices for our neighbors at the food shelf.”

This food shelf supplies its neighbors with food by buying, food banks, and donations.

Food Buy the Numbers:

1/3 is bought – 1/3 comes from Food Banks – 1/3 comes from Food Drives

They’re also adding new ways to reach clients that may not be able to make it out to them with their Mobile Markets, going to 4 locations in the area (mostly senior apartments). They received a Mobile Market grant from Hunger Solutions for the truck.  The refrigeration was purchased with the money raised at this year’s Feed the Bear 40^th Anniversary Event.  And with some coordination magic, they are offering Free Summer Farmer’s Markets (produce only drops) at the senior center and Willow Lane elementary school. More ways this group of staff, volunteers and committed community are showing up for their neighbors. Man I love White Bear Lake!

Let’s keep the good vibes going at the Community Roots Garden Party this Saturday!

There are so many other communities in need of Food Shelf love, let’s spread the word and start digging in together!

Michelle

The post Fresh at the Food Shelf appeared first on Forks in the Dirt.